Love or Hate
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Love or Hate
Love or Hate
1 John 2:7–14 (ESV)
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
So John begins in verse 7 of chapter 2 saying I am not writing you a new command but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning and than he goes on in verse 8 to say at the same time it is a new commandment. So which is it John is it the same old commandment or is it new? He says both! How is that? Well lets start by taking a look at the old commandment and go from there. What is this old commandment? 2 possibilities.
John could be referring to the commandment that they were first told when they initially believed or
John could be referring to the original command God gave His people in the old testament law.
We are going to look at the second possibility. Because Jesus several decades earlier used the same language of a new commandment. So let’s see what the Old Testament has to say about this Old Commandment we have had from the beginning
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
When we talk about commandments from the old testament, the Jewish sages agreed in the Talmud that there is 613 commandments. First what is the Talmud?
According to the Jewish website chabad.com
The Talmud is a collection of writings that covers the full gamut of Jewish law and tradition, compiled and edited between the third and sixth centuries.
So let’s look at what the Talmud tells us about the 613 commandments found in the Old Testament.
According to the Jewish website chabad.com
The Talmud tells us (Tractate Makkot 23b) that there are 613 commandments (mitzvot) in the Torah; 248 Positive Commandments (do's) and 365 Negative Commandments (do not's). However, the Talmud does not provide us with a list of these commandments.
See the Jewish Rabbis then began creating there own rules on top of the 613. They call their rules a “fence around the Torah” See the rules they created were to prevent your from violating the actual laws of God. You need to heed a serious warning here. There is a ditch on both sides of the road. The Pharisees were Judging Jesus as a sinner because He healed on the Sabbath, was Jesus breaking God’s law? Let’s look at Jesus’s own words from Matthew chapter 12:
And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
No He was violating the rules that religious leaders created as a fence around the Torah. Jesus actually points out how they care more about their sheep than people. Are we tempted to add our own rules to this book today? I have heard of churches that have a long list of rules. Now don’t miss hear me, I agree with a lot of their rules in general, but people need to be doing those things for the right reasons. See we are just as susceptible to this error today where we keep our own rules while ignoring God’s rules. Jesus had a serious warning for them in Matthew 23.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
We must be careful, we can be quick to judge the pharisees but we are no different. We can fall into the same traps. Where we create a list of rules. Why I would never watch an R rated movie, which I would agree on principle but we can than harbor all kind of sin in our hearts but take pride in the fact that we are following rules that we created. Remember the pharisees were following the law on tithing to the point they were tithing on herbs out of their garden, how many people are tithing to that level here? But how did Jesus describe the Pharisees hearts?
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
and
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.
Do not ignore the warning that John has been shouting at us through the first couple chapters. What has he been warning us about? How easy it is to say the right thing but how it is completely different to actually live it out. Do you think the Pharisees would have described themselves as “white washed tombs?” Where they looked good on the outside. That is they did the right things. They kept the law, that they created but in their hearts they were dead because they were not keeping the law that God created to Love Him and to Love each other. We need to seek the Lord and make sure we are not doing the same thing this morning. We can deceive ourselves. So the ditch on one side of the road is we can create our own list of rules to follow so we look good on the outside but on the inside we are a tomb full of dead bones and uncleanness. What is the ditch on the other side? We are free in Christ and I don’t have to follow any rules. Jesus paid for all my sin. Past, present, and future. How I live doesn’t matter. I got saved back in 1972 at tent meeting and the pastor told me to write the date down in the back of my Bible and if I ever question it just pull out my Bible and read that I was saved back in 1972 at tent meeting and tell Satan to leave me alone. Is that true? Let see what Paul has to say:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
For homework, go home today and read the rest of Romans 6. I wanted to read the whole passage but for the sake of time I will just sum it up for you. Paul warns us that we can’t come to faith and say yep, I believe I prayed a prayer once and now I am good. Why? Paul goes on to say that if you truly believe, your old self has been what? Has been crucified put to death!
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.
I think this is the key to the new commandment. What is the new commandment Jesus gave?
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
See the key is Jesus said love each other, not as the world loves. Remember even the wicked know how to love those that love them. No we are called to a higher standard aren’t we? Jesus said love as He has loved us. What does that look like? While we were still sinners, that is while you were an enemy of God, He died for you. How many people here this morning want to die for their enemy? If Christ calls us to love our enemy, how than can we hate our brother or sister in Christ? You can’t listen to verses 9 and 10 of chapter 2
Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.
I want to look at the greek word translated cause for stumbling. According to my comentary on 1 John, the author says this about the greek word. skandalon
We should understand σκάνδαλον correctly. It does not mean “occasion of stumbling” (our versions), it has but little connection with stumbling. One may stumble and yet remain on one’s feet, may stumble and actually fall and yet arise again. A skandalon is the crooked trigger stick of a trap to which the bait is affixed and by which the trap is sprung. The verb σκανδαλίζειν means to catch in such a trap. The noun and the verb denote only the fatal, deadly entrapment of the victim. M.-M. 576; R. 174. When this word is used metaphorically it means bringing spiritual death.
Satan is setting a trap for each one of us this morning. Please do not blow this off. Listen to the warning from John. Satan has set a trap that leads to Spiritual death. He wants you to hate each other because it will destroy your witness and lead to your spiritual death.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
How are we called to love? When people slap us on one cheek we are to turn the other. And when someone steals our coat we are to offer them our shirt. And in the context of first century Rome, when a solider forced you to carry his armor a mile cheerfully carry it 2. Do you realize how utterly impossible this is outside of the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit? We may all know this passage by heart, that is we know what we are called to say, but how do we actually do it?
Let’s pause a moment and move this into our modern context. This would be like Russia invading the US and conquering us and then at any moment no matter where you are or what you are doing a Russian soldier could force you to stop what you are doing and carry a 66 pound back pack a mile. And the one thing that I often over looked is you would then after to walk the one mile back to where you started. So Jesus is saying that instead of grumbling and complaining that a soldier is making you carry his heavy back pack a mile. Cheerfully when you reach the mile marker on the road and the soldier says ok that is far enough, instead of grumbling and complaining under your breath about you can’t wait for the day when we over throw you and get our country back and just wait to see what we make you do. you no good… No instead Jesus wants us to turn with a genuine smile and say Can I please carry it 2? Could you imagine the soldiers response? Excuse me? Every one always drops the bag starts mumbling under their breath and storms off. What is wrong with you. Oh I am a Christian. Let me tell you about Jesus. See He is the creator of the universe and He is worthy of continual praise and worship. See I love Him and He set the example that we as His follows are to mimic. See He humbled Himself and took on flesh. He came here to earth. Can you believe that the creator of the universe came here to dwell among us. He deserved the highest honor. We should have been at his beckon call. Willing and ready to carry His back pack at any moment not just for 1 mile but 100 if He needed it. And do you know the example He set? Do you know Jesus said?
But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
That is why I will gladly carry your pack 2 miles because my Jesus laid down His rights as the Son of the Most High God to serve us to the point of death even death on the cross so we can live. It is because of that example that I will willing go the second mile. Do you think that any Roman soldiers came to faith by this example? I don’t know maybe. What if you laid down your rights to serve others? What kind of witness opportunities would that create? Even as Christians, we can get caught up in our rights and what people owe us and loose sight of this vital truth. If our master laid down all His rights to come and serve. What excuse do we have to demand our rights?
I want to leave you with a quiz. As we look at this final slide I want you to ask yourself are you loving others as you ought? Are you ____ to others?
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.